Remembering H. P. Lovecraft: August 20, 1890–March 15, 1937

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island, and died there of cancer on March 15, 1937. An heir to Poe and Hawthorne, Lovecraft is one of the pioneers of modern science fiction, fantasy, and horror literature. Lovecraft is a literary favorite in New Rightist circles, for reasons that will become clear from a perusal of the following works on this website.

As for editions of Lovecraft’s writings, I recommend the Library of America volume H. P. Lovecraft: Tales, ed. Peter Straub (New York: Library of America, 2005), which contains 22 stories and novellas, including all of Lovecraft’s classic mature works, such as “The Call of Cthulhu,” “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” “The Colour out of Space,” “The Dunwich Horror,” “At the Mountains of Madness,” “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” “The Dreams in the Witch House,” “The Thing on the Doorstep,” “The Shadow out of Time,” and “The Haunter of the Dark.” All of the texts are based on S. T. Joshi’s definitive edition of Lovecraft’s fiction.

Joshi’s edition is published in three volumes:The Dunwich Horror And Others, selected by August Derleth, ed. S. T. Joshi (Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House, 1963); At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels, selected by August Derleth, ed. S. T. Joshi (Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House, 1964); and Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, selected by August Derleth, ed. S. T. Joshi (Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House, 1965). (One must exercise great care in ordering these volumes from Amazon.com, as there are many inferior editions with similar names. The more recent printings are afflicted with hideously cheesy cover art.)

To complete one’s collection of Lovecraft’s fiction, one needs to buy two more volumes. First, there is The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions, ed. S. T. Joshi (Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House, 1989), contains works wholly or partially ghost-written by Lovecraft, including some crucial contributions to the Cthuhlu mythos, such as the masterful novella “The Mound,” the fruit of profound meditations on cultural decadence. Second, one needs The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft, ed. S. T. Joshi (San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2001).

Joshi has also edited a five volume edition of Lovecraft’s Collected Essays. August Derleth and various collaborators also published a five volumes of Lovecraft’s Selected Letters.